Moorhead police return $7,000 diamond to man who found it

MOORHEAD – Police say a man who found a 1-carat diamond last fall outside a Moorhead pizza place will get to keep it after no one came forward to claim it.

The south Moorhead man, who police say wishes to remain anonymous, found the oval diamond in September in the Holiday Mall parking lot near Little Caesar’s Pizza. He had it appraised by a local jeweler who valued it at roughly $7,000.

In the process, the man learned that the diamond had an identification number that might be retained by the original owner or jeweler. He turned the diamond over to Moorhead police for help in trying to find the rightful owner. Police said the International Gemological Institute confirmed that the diamond had never been registered.

Police issued a news release and local media picked up the story, generating a few inquiries, but the diamond’s owner wasn’t found, Lt. Tory Jacobson said.

The diamond now is being returned to the man who found it. Under state law, if goods or money are found in a public or semi-public place, police may return them to the finder after a reasonable amount of time, Jacobson said, noting Moorhead police use a 90-day threshold.

Jacobson said the man’s good faith efforts in trying to find the diamond’s owner demonstrated “another fine example of the character of the citizens of our community.”